


This is Why

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Blood and Injury, Combat, Emotions, Fighting Demons, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Malec, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-07 23:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1918560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is why Magnus doesn't accompany Alec into battle. He can't stand seeing his boyfriend - his <i>mortal </i>boyfriend - putting himself in so much danger.</p><p>Or, if Magnus were to put it bluntly:<br/>This is why we can't have nice things. Or nice dates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is Why

**Author's Note:**

> Some slightly graphic demon death included, so, take it as you will.

Alec slipped a bow free and slid it into place, pulling it back before letting it fly across the graveyard.

"How did this happen?!" Magnus called. He was a flurry of spiky hair, glitter, and blue sparks from his fingertips. "We were on a date!"

"Welcome to my life," Alec yelled back, flashing an adrenaline-pushed smile towards the warlock.

"Now we're in a graveyard, fighting Arisan demons!" Magnus continued, electricity zapping through the demon coming at him. It froze, shuddered, and vanished with a puff of smoke.

"It happens!"

Alec whirled around, jumped up lightly onto the stairsteps of a large angel statue that marked a grave. He prepared his bow and let another arrow go through the air, followed by another and another, all three striking a demon straight in the chest. It screeched and Alec felt himself grin even wider, reckless abandon coursing through his veins in a way that it usually didn't. Usually it was Jace. Usually he felt excitement through Jace, through their bond, when they fought, but somehow, today, it was _him_ and he was loving it. Loved being a Shadowhunter, loved that their plans got cancelled because of the stray demon attack, loved that Magnus was here with him, complaining about how unfair it was.

It was just... weirdly _perfect_.

"Alexander!"

Alec turned to look at Magnus, his tone was wrong, there was something not right happening, and then he saw why: a demon, claws extended to their full two-foot length, bared towards his chest. Alec's excitement turned to horror before the demon crashed against him.

He went flying backwards, falling off the stairsteps. His breath escaped from his lips in a rush as his back hit the ground, but he didn't feel the pain of the fall over the claws tearing at him. Superficial scratches, right now, the demon hadn't gotten close enough or by chance of minor miracle. Alec fumbled for his stele, groping at his belt, fingers cold and numb against the shock of cold cement.

Then suddenly the weight was gone - a blur, a blue-purple-red-orange-black-sparkling _blur_ going rolling with it as it tackled the demon away. Magnus and the demon went tumbling across the uneven landscaping, over the unkept graves, crashing against a tombstone.

"Magnus!"

Magnus's face was white beneath his black hair, but as he reared back, his hand alight with blue flame, there was determination and pure _hatred_ glowing into his eyes. His hand crashed down on the demon's chest, fingers tearing through the green-black skin of the Arisan demon like it was tissue paper, disappearing up to his wrist. The blue light emitted from his hand made the insides of the demon glow and for a split second, Alec could make out a heart, a spleen, and what appeared to be two sets of lungs before the light reached a crescendo and with a horrifying bright, loud _crack_ , the demon exploded.

Alec turned his head away, ichor and the Angel knew what else pattering down around him. When he looked up again, he realized with a start that the rest of the Arisan demons were gone, too. He barely bad time to blink before Magnus was there, coated with demon guts and glitter, ichor staining his houndstooth pattern printed shirt and purple and orange skinny jeans, throwing his arms around him, pulling him close, his body pressed up flush against his and he was _shaking_.

"Alexander," he breathed, before suddenly pulling away, sinking to his knees fluidly, jerking at Alec's jacket and shirt, his fingers no longer glowing blue, but picking up red as he brushed over Alec's wounds.

"I'm fine," Alec interrupted. "I'm fine, it was only a scratch."

Magnus looked up at him, eyes blown wide. His pupils looked strange when they were dilated. "A _scratch_?"

"Okay, six scratches," Alec muttered, glancing down where the Arisan's claws, three on each limb, had clawed at him. "I'll be fine with an _ira_ -"

Magnus interrupted by holding his hand to Alec's chest, palm up, his lips forming words that Alec couldn't hear or would have been able to understand.

"Magnus," he started, reaching to push Magnus's hand away, but he could already feel the strange pull of skin rebuilding against skin, of blood flow staunching due to a lack of wound. _Iratzes_ were easier in a sense; he felt the sting of the stele, but never the recovery much. "You didn't have to do that," he said dryly.

Instead of responding, Magnus reached up and pulled Alec into a hug, which was awkward, because Magnus was still kneeling in front of him. Alec ended up half bent over, Magnus's hands knitted so firmly against his back that the imprints of his rings were starting to hurt. His nose tickled.

"Magnus. _Magnus_." He shifted in the tight embrace. "Magnus, you smell like death."

Magnus released him so suddenly that Alec almost staggered. He regained his balance and watched tentatively as Magnus started to laugh, his cat eyes twinkling and his shoulders shaking from laughter he hid by ducking his head.

When he raised his head again, there was still laughter in his eyes, and tears on his cheeks, streaking through the grime and ichor. " _Alexander_ \- Alec." He shook his head roughly, pushing his fingers through his hair. They came away slimy. "I save your life and you tell me I _stink_."

Alec smiled faintly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Well, you do. But, you know." He looked at his shoe as he scuffed it against the cement. "Thanks for saving me," he added quietly, glancing up hesitantly.

Magnus met his halfhearted gaze. His eyes softened. His shoulders relaxed and he slumped forward, his forehead thumping against Alec's thigh.

"Magnus?" Alec asked, alarm shooting through his veins like ice water. He gripped Magnus's shoulders tightly.

"This is why I said _let's go swimming, Alec_ ," Magnus mumbled. "But even that isn't safe. We can't even _get_ to the coast before this happens."

Alec paused. "But... this is my life," he said slowly.

"I know," Magnus said, with something close to a laugh. "Oh, how I know." He raised his head again. There was a smile on his lips, a wry smile, but there was an infinite sadness in his eyes, one that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles that Alec couldn't see the end of it.

"Magnus..." he started.

"Oh my _God_ , did he propose to you in the middle of a demon battle!?" Isabelle's voice rang out across the cemetery. "And I _missed it_?!"

Alec straightened up slightly. Izzy, winding through the tombstones, dressed all in gear, eyes alert and focussed on them. Jace followed behind her, moving lazily, humour underlaid with worry in his eyes.

"No, Isabelle, that's Magnus about to do something untoward to your brother," Jace commented, pointing with his stele.

Izzy's gaze hardened and she straightened up. "Magnus _Bane_! In the middle of a cemetery!?!"

Alec flushed. "No!" His hand on Magnus's shoulder tightened and pulled the warlock to his feet. "Not any of that! Especially not the second one!"

"Besides," Magnus added, apparently having come back to himself as he was scrubbing his face with a handkerchief produced from seemingly nowhere, "if I were proposing or performing sexual acts upon your brother, my dear Isabelle, I would go about it with far more class." He paused. "And with far less gastrointestinal juice all over me."

Izzy wrinkled her nose.

"You were hurt?" Jace interrupted. His eyes were on the gashes and the blood on Alec's clothes.

"Magnus healed me," Alec said quickly. "I'm fine."

Izzy flicked her gaze between them again, settling on Magnus. "No offense, but you stink."

"Izzy..." Alec sighed.

Magnus held up his hand. "I've been told."

Isabelle narrowed her eyes slightly. "Since when do you fight down and dirty with demons? You have magic at your fingertips; have I seen you go hand-to-hand?"

"Or hand-to-tentacle," Jace supplied seriously. Alec gave him a withering look.

"Since my boyfriend gets a call to stop an attack in the middle of our date," Magnus said wearily. "Which I'm afraid you've ruined now, you two. I had a nice day planned, one where Alec and I could spend the afternoon lathering each other up with sunscreen, but instead, the only lathering we'll accomplish is now in the shower."

"Magnus!" Alec wanted to disappear; he thought these people were out to get him sometimes, all three of them.

"Well, that'll be more fun. Amazing things can happen in showers," Jace said.

Alec sighed - again. "Can we go home?" He was appealing mostly to Magnus, although Isabelle and Jace were the ones who had called him about the attack.

"Please," Magnus replied. He snapped his fingers and the ichor and slime vanished from his body. When he took Alec's hand, his fingers were warm and dry. "I've just magicked it all away and I can still feel on it my skin. I need a shower." He looked at Isabelle and Jace. " _Please_ don't call again. Call Clary or Simon; I'm sure _they're_ busy."

"They went on vacation and left us here," Jace muttered. "Took Simon, left me. How is that fair?"

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Oh, your suffering knows no bounds." His hand tightened around Alec's. "Come on."

Alec obliged. He wanted a shower, too, although not necessarily in the way that Jace thought that they did. His wound was healed, but the drying blood was irritating.

They were halfway across the cemetery when Magnus's grip turned from casual hand-holding to a demand; he pulled Alec close and pressed his lips against his.

Alec was pleasantly surprised but kissed him back slowly, the nervous feeling that someone might see them still in the back of his mind, something he was unable to let go of even now. It was a different kiss, something Alec wasn't sure what Magnus wanted out of it, not a peck on the lips but not an exploration, either. It was just romantic, and deep, and Alec felt wobbly when Magnus pulled away for air.

"I love you."

Alec swallowed, his face going warm again. They rarely ever said that, either of them, because Alec thought actions spoke louder for words and Magnus went along with it without complaint. So, his throat felt thick with emotion when he whispered "Love you, too," back to him.

Magnus smiled and let go of his hand, only to wrap his arm around his shoulder and pull him close. Alec was again surprised but just pressed close to Magnus's body, keeping as close as he possibly could to him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own _Mortal Instruments_ because it belongs to Cassie Clare.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
